OUR MOTOWN

Driving today with a compilation of Dangerhouse singles blasting away, I was reminded what a great fucking label it was. They only released about thirteen or fourteen seven inchers, one compilation (that was on one side of a picture disc twelve inch) and one proper LP, Black Randy and the Metro Squad's Pass the Angel Dust, I Think I'm Bowie. What's so special about the label is that they put out seminal records by seminal bands. All but a couple of the discs are the best that any of the bands ever recorded, and just about all of them were released early, 1977 - 1979. In their discography, the first Avengers 45, the first X, second Dils, first Bags, first Alleycats, second Weirdos,...you get the picture: seminal. And it was a strictly DIY label. Some of the recordings were done in hotel rooms, the sleeves were folded paper, their distribution through mostly independent record stores. It is the label that best represents the early L.A. punk scene (though the Avengers were from San Francisco and Howard Werth, the odd non-punk release, was from the UK). The only questionable release, aside from Werth's, was from 2013 (!) an LP by a someone named Sienna Nanini, a release that someone in the comments on YouTube referred to as ABDL, which a search revealed means "Adult Baby/Diaper Lover". Yikes! Not my bag at all, and that's all I have to say about that.

So here's a mess of Dangerhouse stuff. The two mp3s down there are my two favorite, but there are others at Killed By Death (linked below). Another link with the story behind the label, and a complete discography, including the few reissues there have been, at Discogs. If you want to read up, I suggest We Got the Neutron Bomb by Brendan Mullen (owner of the Masque, an underground club active back then) and Marc Spitz. It's an oral history in chronological snippets by many of the main players.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Weirdos - Solitary Confinement mp3 at Killed By Death
The Dils - Class War mp3 at Killed By Death
More Dangerhouse releases at Killed By Death
Still more Dangerhouse releases at Killed By Death  Click on "Older posts" if you really want Rhino 36
Visit:
Dangerhouse discography at Discogs
The Dangerhouse story, part 1 at Break My Face
The Dangerhouse story, part 2 at Break My Face
Frontier Records at Bandcamp Releases by Black Randy, Red Cross, Weirdos and Middle Class and Dangerhouse compilations

LET'S TWIST AGAIN

Back when the Dils' "Class War" came out in 1977, it was an exotic idea, a fantasy. Now it's sounds reasonable.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Dils, - Class War mp3 at Killed By Death
The Dils - Mr. Big mp3 at Killed By Death
Video:
The Dils - Class War (live, 1978)  at YouTube

THE TWO THIRDS KINMAN TRIO

Yesterday my friend the Crippler posted a thing online, asking peope who they thought the all time best ten bands from San Diego were. He got a lot of replies and it was obvious that many of the people were of the same age group, citing a lot of bands from the eighties and nineties. The Crippler, though, goes back a little further. He was but a kid when he started frequenting punk shows, his older brother being Baba Chenelle, the drummer for the Zeros. So his list of bands mentioned some that weren't included on anyone else's list, among them the Dils.

The Dils were an incredibly tight three piece, from the early era of California punk, playing their first San Diego show in 1977. They were living in Carlsbad (roughly twenty miles north of San Diego), while playing Los Angeles and San Francisco regularly, finally moving to San Francisco about a year later, and that's where they hit their stride. They had strong convictions and were considered to the far left politically (their first manager was a self described communist), with songs like "Class War", "I Hate the Rich" and others  with a political bent. Some people thought that their thing was a little over the top, that they were too didactic. But, at the very least, they made people think. Not just about wealth disparity, but about things like ticket prices and labor issues. Do they sound like preaching dullards? Think again. The Dils brought it.

They started out as a four piece, but after the initial line up change became a trio. It was essentially the Chip and Tony Show. because Chip and Tony Kinman, for all intents and purposes, were the Dils. They went through a succession of drummers, but the brothers were the constants. After the Dils ended, they had several other bands together, including Rank and File (also featuring Alejandor Escovedo, formerly of the Nuns), Blackbird, and Cowboy Nation. And they're still playing, Chip in Chip Kinman and PCH, and Tony in Los Trendy.

Entire live set can be found here

But live back then, they had few peers in the West Coast punk scene. As mentioned they were tight, able to hit their spots despite being very animated onstage, Chip Kinman in particular. They had their own sound, early on pretty standard punk rock, with maybe a little Who thrown in, but with their distinctive voices. Tony Kinman had a really low voice, and Chip's was a little higher. Then something happened around the time they moved to SF. They were using harmonies more. Not as in la-la-la, but something closer to one of the Everly Brothers singing with Johnny Cash, in a punk band (they covered "Cathy's Clown" around this time, so yeah). It may not translate in all of the songs below, but believe me, in those sweaty pre-mosh days, that's what they sounded like.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:

The Dils - I Hate the Rich, and You're Not Blank at Good Bad Music... Go there to get it

The Dils - I Hate the Rich, and You're Not Blank at Killed By Death In case the ones above goes dead

The Dils - Class War, and Mr. Big at Good Bad Music... Go there to get it

The Dils - Class War, and Mr. Big at Killed By Death In case the one above goes dead

The Dils -It's Not Worth It, Sound of the Rain, and Red Rockers at Good Bad Music... Go there to get them.

Video:

The Dils - Live set, 52 minutes at YouTube 1979

Louder, Faster, Shorter - (Clip) at YouTube The Dils followed by the Avengers, Live, Mabuhay (San Francisco) 1978

Visit:

The Dils at Wikipedia

Chip Kinman and PCH at Facebook

Los Trendy/Tony Kinman at MySpace Five songs

START OF SOMETHING BIGGER

You might think that any old fart that listens to punk rock from thirty odd years ago is stuck in the past, or trying to bring about a feeling of deja cool. But when I revisited the stuff below, the first thing that I flashed on was what the feeling was like, not the feeling of the music, or the feeling of what it felt like to be in with the out crowd. When I heard these, it reminded me of the the excitement of the open ended possibilities that these records represented. These tiny upstart record companies that seemed to pop up over night were not lapping up the condensation as it dripped off of the major labels tall cool one. They stepped in the puddle and went another day without water.

With the possible exception of the odd private pressing, or token 45 by a local bar band, these were the first independently released records that most of my friends had ever heard. They most definitely were for me. Just as in that old punk rock cliche "they can't play and they're in a band, and I can play three chords...", these records proved "I can put out a record". And many did. The links below lead to a good size chunk of ground zero for the L.A. punk scene and the surge of independent West Coast labels. These records and others released about that same time did no less than change the game.

These links lead to separate posts at Killed By Death, each with two to four songs, with the original sleeves . All of these records were released within a span of about two years on L.A. based labels, and all of the bands were from L.A., with the exception of the Dils and the Avengers, who from San Francisco.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY KILLED BY DEATH ~ 

Listen:

The Dils - I Hate the Rich Two songs
The Weirdos – Destroy All Music E.P Three songs
The Avengers – We Are The One E.P. Three songs
The Bags – Survive Two songs
The Dils – 198 Seconds Of…  Two songs
X – Adult Books Two songs
Black Randy and The Metro Squad – Trouble at the Cup E.P. Three songs
Randoms – ABCD/Let’s Get Rid Of New York Two songs
The Weirdos – We Got The Neutron Bomb Two songs
What Records Comp. E.P. Three songs, Contollers, Eyes and Skulls
The Deadbeats – Kill The Hippies E.P. Four songs
The Germs – Lexicon Devil E.P. Three songs
Black Randy and the Metrosquad – I Slept In An Arcade Two songs

RECORD STORE DAY IS SATURDAY

Record Store Day is this Saturday, so I'm setting the wayback machine to 1977. But it's more because of the records that drew us to the stores, than the stores themselves. That's because, after years of major label domination of "cutting edge" music, the DIY mentality of punk rock had pulled the independent label movement right out of the mud. Though the indies never really went away, there were just very few of them. But when punk hit, it was as if someone was cutting a path through all of the bullshit. Deals were made on handshakes (or clinking beer bottles), artists were given control, and distribution avenues grew. It was one of the most important, and longest lasting, aspects of original punk rock movement. Nowadays "punk rock" is for the masses, a sound and a look, more than it is a movement, way of life, or DIY business model. Sure, there's still indie punk labels, but what's disconcerting is that a lot of the music is too derivative, too much the same, too punk rock.

In 1977, all these punk labels started popping up in L.A.. Notably early were Bomp (who put out the first Weirdos and Zeros 45s) and What Records (the first Dils and Germs records),; but, by far, the one label that had it down, and released the bulk of the significant shit, was Dangerhouse. I can remember eagerly waiting for the first crop of Dangerhouse releases to hit Monty Rockers, my record store of choice. I mean that literally. I was there when they were delivered. So, that's the segue to Record Store Day. A stretch, I know.

Within a five month period, Dangerhouse released 45s by the Randoms, Black Randy & the Metro Squad (two), the Avengers, the Dils (their second), the Weirdos (their second), the Alleycats, and X. Just a few months later, amongst others, they released 45s by the Deadbeats, the Bags, and the Eyes. At the very least, there are a half dozen landmark punk records in that bunch. And, notably, they're not all really punk rock. Because it wasn't just about a look or a sound. I mean, jeez, the Alleycats were a sped up rock band that had been playing biker bars. X's John Doe & Exene started out as poets. The Weirdos were just loud ex-art school guys. The Dils were really just aggravated, well-versed, ex-rock guys. And the Deadbeats were a total fucking freakout. Nevermind the fact that the Screamers were never properly recorded, they were undoubtedly on the Dangerhouse wish list, what with former Screamer David Brown being one of the labels principals. So just listen to some of the songs on the pages below. Really, at least just listen to the Deadbeats' "Brainless," and think of that the next time you see a kid in a black hoodie and skinny jeans.

This post at 7 Inch Punk has:
The Avengers: We Are the One, I Believe In Me, Car Crash
The Dils: Class War, Mr. Big
Randoms: ABCD, Let's Get Rid of New York
Black Randy & the Metro Squad: Trouble at the Cup, Loner With A Boner, Sperm Bank Baby

This post at 7 Inch Punk has:
The Weirdos: We Got the Neutron Bomb, Solitary Confinement
The Alleycats: Nothing Means Nothing Anymore, Gimme a Little Pain
X: Adult Books, We're Desperate
Black Randy & the Metro Squad: Idi Amin, Say It Loud Pt 3, Say It Loud Pt 13, I Wanna be a Narc

This post at 7 Inck Punk has:
The Deadbeats: Kill the Hippies, Brainless [HIGHLY recommended], and three non- Dangerhouse songs

Dangerhouse history & discography at Break My Face; Pt 1, and Pt 2
An exhaustive history, with interviews and side stories.

Record Store Day official site

WHAT WE DO WAS SECRET

Photo: John Denny (Weirdos), Darby Crash (Germs) and Tomata du Plenty (Screamers) singing back-up vocals for Black Randy and the Metrosquad at the Masque, ca 1978. Original full size photo by Douglas Cavanaugh, can be found on Kristian Hoffman's site here.

The context in which the 77-78 era of California punk rock is experienced is everything. A lot of online sources get things a little skewed, some do a little research and get it right, and some "I was there" sites give interesting first-hand accounts.

One thing that needs to be remembered is, first and foremost, it was an full-on DIY phenomenon. People with little or no experience put out records and fanzines, and they were every bit as essential to the scenes as the bands were. There were no web pages, no MySpace, no Pro Tools, no mp3's or YouTube. Just scrappy kids that couldn't take the crap they were being fed any longer. Take DIY out of the equation, add thirty years and try not to choke on the words "punk's not dead."

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:

The Alley Cats-Nothin Means Nothing Anymore/Give Me a Little Pain (Dangerhouse) [1]

The Bags-Survive/Babylonian Gorgon (Dangerhouse) [2]

Black Randy & the Metrosquad-Trouble at the Cup/Loner With a Boner/Sperm Bank Baby(Dangerhouse) [2]

The Controllers-(The Original) Neutron Bomb (What Records) [2]

The Deadbeats-Kill the Hippies/Brainless/Final Ride/Deadbeat (Dangerhose) [4]
The Dils-Class War/Mr. Big (Dangerhouse) [2]

The Germs-Lexicon Devil/No God/Circle One (Slash) [2]

The Eyes-Don’t Talk To Me (What Records) [2]

The Skulls-Victims (What Records) [2]

The Weirdos-We Got the Neutron Bomb (Dangerhouse) [5]

The Zeros-Don't Push Me Around/Beat Your Heart Out/Hand Grenade Heart [Demo]/Cosmetic Couple [Demo] (Bomp) [3]
The hosts:
1. Good Bad Music For Bad, Bad Times
2. Killed By Death
3. Pop Zeus

4. Last Days of Man on Earth

5. Something I Learned Today

Compilations of Dangerhouse bands (and two Weirdos comps) are available at Frontier Records.

Recommended reading: "We Got the Neutron Bomb" by Brendan Mullen and Mark Spitz